Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to the show we are calling
Nlucar Nights. It's a short run combination actual play and
audio drama that uses both old school essentials and the
Oracle from Ironsworn. My name is John and i'm Steve.
We're so happy that you could join us for another session.
Please be advised that this podcast is intended for a
mature audience. Let's begin with a little recap of the
last session, Steve, would you like to do the owners? Sure?
Why not?
Speaker 2: Here we go last time on Nalakar Knights. In episode one,
we are introduced to the walled city of Nalakar. During
a brief prologue, two city agents Rangers go out on
a scouting mission near the Riven Wood south of the city.
They find an overturned caravan and a scene that looks
like the aftermath of a massacre. While investigating, they are
attacked by something not quite human. Neither of the two
rangers survives. The main story begins the very next day
with a group of four scouts who are on a
mission to find out what happened to that original pair.
This group consists of Findleth, the Mage, Vaidar, the cleric
of Ugmar Kathir the El, and Uigal the Breaker, a
fierce warrior. The quartet have just found the overturned caravan
when a sound draws them off the road and into
the ribbon wood. A short distance away, they find Drovar,
one of the originals. At first, he seems hurt, there's
something growing on his skin, and while he is alive,
he doesn't seem right. Karathe Or the Elf, puts an
arrow in him, which angers the cleric of Idar. But
before the two can truly get into an argument, the
second of the original scouts makes their presence known. Zeleidra
is no longer human. Having discovered their presence, she attacks.
Speaker 1: Before we enter into combat, we need to work out
a couple of things. Zeleidra has become a Thul, and
a Thuol is a strange and dangerous creature. They can
regenerate one hit point per round. They have an armor
class of thirteen. They have three hit dice. This one
has thirteen hit points. Like a ghoule, a Thul can
paralyze its prey. Kea there as an Elf is immune
to the paralysis, but nobody else is. There's no need
to rule for surprise, here, so let's get right into
it and to recombat. Round one initiative the Thuel a five,
the party a five. It is simultaneous combat. Vidar and
Carethr engage the creature in melee. Yugahl has an arrow
at the ready and will loose it before using his
mall fiddleth For now, we'll keep his distance. The fuel,
with its sightless eyes, seems to choose its target and
then lunges a kareth Here she swings her axe. Even
in the pale light, they can see that it is
slimed with something shiny and dark. A nine will miss.
Now it's the party's turn. Carethier needs at thirteen to
hit a seventeen good roll Carethr and six points of damage.
Carither shoves his spear right into this creature's chest, but
no pain registers on its hideous face. It simply continues
to grope and snap, but Vaidar needs a thirteen to
hit with his mace. A thirteen is a hit just
three points of damage, and the thul is down to
three hit points. Already a strong start, and Yugall still
hasn't had a turn. He looses his arrow, but with
an eight he misses. Well, if the rest of the
battle goes like that, I do not think to going
to last very long. It is round two initiative. The
Thule A one the Party A one. Simultaneous combat once again.
As the two sides slam together once again, the Thule
attacks karethere, but A three misses and he parries the
axe with ease. Something strange is happening on the Thol's body.
The tendrils on the neck and chest begin to squirm.
Gray flesh where it has been rent begins to knit
back together, and the Thule regenerates one hit point. Care
Theory tries to take out its legs with the butt
of his spear. An eight on the dive missus. Huh,
it's Vidar's turn. Another swing of his mace A five
also misses. You gall the Breaker throws down his bow
and joins the melee with his enormous mall. He has
time to swing it this round, but A nine misses
as well, and we are on to round three. Initiative.
The Thool A one, the Party A six. Well, that's
more like it. Careth here once again stabs with his
spear an eight will miss. Now it's Vidar with his
mace A four another miss. How about you Gall swinging
his mall A four is yet another miss. Now is
the Thol's turn. It attacks, Oh you Gall? Luckily A
thirteen misses. Unluckily, the Thule continues to regenerate and now
is back to five hit points. Round four initiative the
Thool A six the Party A two. The Thule attacks
Yugall again, viciously chopping down with attacks. A seventeen is
a hit, but for only one damage. Looks like Yugall
get out of the way in time. He takes just
a scratch to the back of his hand, But Thols,
like Ghules, paralyze their prey. Yugall needs to make a
saving throw. A fourteen or better will succeed the role.
A nine that is a failure. You Gall stiffens up
where he stands as though frozen in time while the
battle reaches on around him. Finally, the Thuel regenerates yet
another hit point and is all the way back up
to six. Now it's the party's turn. Carethier jabs with
his spear. A ten is another miss. Ken vaidar Land
a hit A seven means he cannot findleth watching all
this is not sure what to do for now, he
decides to do nothing. It is round five initiative the
Thuol the three, the Party A three simultaneous combat once again.
The Duel regenerates to seven hit points and attacks Vidar
natural twenty ugh max damage plus a D six. Viidar
is dead. The Thuol leaps on him, bearing him to
the ground and sinks its teeth into his neck, savaging
him and tearing out a fist sized chunk of flesh. No,
it is Carathist turn to attack. He needs a thirteen.
An eleven is a miss. Perhaps he's so horrified by
what he sees that he just stands there for a moment,
mouth agape. Because it is simultaneous combat, Vidar may attempt
an attack before he goes down. A fifteen hits four
six points of damage, taking the Thuel down to a
single hit point. Findlus can stand by uselessly no longer.
He casts light to blind the Thule. The Thule will
save on a sixteen. A ten fails and the Thule
is blind. It is round six initiative the Thule A four,
the Party A three. The Thule regenerates and now has
two hit points, but it will fight at a minus
four penalty because it has been blinded. It attacks Karethier.
A modified sixteen is a hit and for five damage.
A Carithre is now down to one hit point. This
is not going well at all. Carethr retaliates. A sixteen
is a hit. He needs to roll at least a
two on the die bah. He's rolled a one, and
the battle is not over. Round seven and eight go
by without anybody landing a hit. However, the Thule regenerates
and by round nine is already back up to three
hit points. Round nine initiative the Thule a four the
party a five. Carathr lunges with a spear. A seven
is a miss. In desperation, Findleth joins the melee, striking
down with his staff. I'm nineteen. He hits. He needs
to roll at least three damage to end this fight.
A two foul based the Thul with one hit point
immediately regenerates to two. It attacks Kaathr oh no a
natural twenty. Again, Karethr is dead. Findleth is the only
one left and he runs and so this combat is over.
But there's one question left, and it's an important one.
The question is this which runs out first the Thol's blindness,
or you call the breaker's paralysis. The light spell lasts
seventy minutes. That the same as the paralysis, but u
Gall was paralyzed a few seconds before the Thul is blinded.
Let's make it a one and six chance that you
Gall cannot regain control of his body before the Thul
regains its sight before on the die, u Gall regains
control of his body after having listened to his slain
companions being eaten for over an hour. When he is
able to move again, he briefly considers staying to fight.
Then the blinded Thule, perhaps hearing movement, turns its head
and Yugall knows he is going to run. Wow, okay, okay,
does this mean now we're going to like to dissolve
and and you know time has passed, Yeah, and we're
back in town. I think so. I think that that
makes kind of more sense because we need more characters. Actually,
so who would have thought that we would be spending
this time rolling up new characters, But that is kind
of what's happening right now.
Speaker 2: We're going to have a nice easy conversation after we
beat that thing away.
Speaker 1: I know, right. I thought we'd be scratching our heads,
going where where are we going to get our next
plot lead? Yeah, well, that's that's not an issue. That's
not an issue at all. Where are they in town?
Are they at the barracks because they report to a
kind of a captain, right, Commander Reagan? Yeah, Regan.
Speaker 2: I do have a question, which is we talked about
in in episode one having the characters level.
Speaker 1: Up every episode. Oh, that's right.
Speaker 2: Do we still want to do that and have do
this sort of like not a full time jump, but
like a many time jump, and at least you gall
and Findleth advance to second level, and then the new
characters can be at first level.
Speaker 1: That's fine, Yeah, I think that we should. If we
sort of introduce this idea that time has to pass
for that level up to happen, then I could see
it being a problem next time because we might be
in the middle of the action. Maybe we should just
do it video game style where you hit a certain
XP and you just happens. And yeah, it might stretch believability,
but given that we're doing like this short run thing,
I think that that is a price I'd be willing
to pay. I don't know. Should we just do that
level up instead? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it
so a couple. I guess we have a couple of
things to do. We have a scene to describe, maybe,
or maybe we do the mechanical stuff first, and then
we do the scene after. I think so, yeah, okay,
so we're going to level up our characters, make up
a couple of new replacement characters for the dead ones,
and then we'll figure out some kind of way to
introduce it so that the plot can have some momentum forward. Right, Yes, okay,
level up first, let's do it great. Should we just
keep it nice and simple and do hit points plus
spells and skills? Yeah, we don't have to do the
whole stat increase thing or whatever. It's maybe maybe the
scope of what we're doing it just that would drag
it down. All right, new hit points for fiddles one?
You all get the D eight So six six is good?
Oh yeah? Should I a mint that role at half?
I think so, yeah, I think I should just even
be consistent. I should. I'm prepared to live with the
with the consequences, but I do want to be consistent. Yeah,
so you got a six that's actually very good. Do
you have a con bonus or anything like that. Oh,
that's a good question, I believe I do.
Speaker 2: Yes, I do so as I get added on as well. Yeah,
so I'm up to sixteen hit points.
Speaker 1: He's well, I mean that's what he does.
Speaker 2: He's the breaker.
Speaker 1: Is he's the breaker?
Speaker 2: But maybe this is a new aspect to his character.
Is he the breaker because he breaks and runs?
Speaker 1: Well? Maybe Finderless and him, I mean, this is something
to talk about. Do they have an understanding?
Speaker 2: I mean, Findle has definitely pieced out and left you
gall there, and so there might be some hard feelings.
Speaker 1: There could be hard feelings findleths What story does he
tell when he gets back that they were all killed? Yes? Maybe? Yeah,
all right, I'm getting ahead of myself because this is
this is perhaps part of the scene that we're going
to be doing. We could even we could even like
cut too there having an argument or something like that. Yeah,
maybe we'll see what works. Yeah, Okay, I'm going to
roll for a new spelt three is floating disc I
mean that would be handy. I've never found that that
has a use, but you know what, that's what it is.
Speaker 2: You know, it'll be really helpful for carrying your paralyzed
friend out of danger.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, a bit laid on the floating disc tip.
All right, I think that that's it for level ups.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it doesn't look like you all gets anything else.
Speaker 1: Fighters get hit points. That's it, really Yeah. Next up
is to roll up some new best friends. Do you
want to do the back and forth thing? Did that
work before? Yeah, let's do it rerolling out of five.
Let's get into it with strength. Ooh, that's six. That's
not good. It's not good at all.
Speaker 2: I got a thirteen nice intelligence, I got a ten.
I got an eleven.
Speaker 1: Whizdome ten again, A nine decks. I'm really hoping that
I get a good decks because I'm feeling rogue. Please, Okay,
it's a twelve. I mean that's not bad. It's above average.
It's not terrible.
Speaker 2: It's not terrible. An eight for DEXs thirty for this character.
Speaker 1: Con An eight. That's a minest one and.
Speaker 2: We're getting into the like C team of scouts.
Speaker 1: I no way. Twelve for con charisma. No, it's eleven. Wow,
this character is not the best but workable. Nine for
my charisma. So nie of us have got any stats
that pop out is very exceptional, right, it really is
the C team.
Speaker 2: I mean, I got the strength bonus of plus one,
but a desk of minus one, so if I got
a really good like intelligence or decks. I was going
to joke about this being Bearethier Catheter's twin brother, but
I feel like that doesn't necessarily fit.
Speaker 1: I'm just looking at the old Don John here for names,
same I see one that I kind of like. I'm
just going to change a couple of the sounds here
and call him Adrius. And he's definitely a thief. So
I got four glorious hit points NOE three because of
his con.
Speaker 2: Okay, we're gonna call this guy Dulpher. He's a bit
dull for a new character, Dulpher, and he's got to
be a fighter because he's got strength of thirteen and
really nothing else.
Speaker 1: And my guy is probably by trade like a long bowman,
and he's got a few side hustles going on.
Speaker 2: So that's character creation for our new PCs. But we
need to figure out what happened with Fidelith and Yugol
and how we can bring them together with these new
team members. So yougle and Findaleth come back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is you go wounded? No, he took a scratch.
He took a scratch. That's it. Okay. So it's not
even like we have to stay in town so you
can heal. Yeah, not even that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think it makes sense that Reagan would
not turn around and send the two of them back
out after watching half their party get murdered. What if
we say that she sends out a force.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's like a big force.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because it's like, okay, we sent we sent, you know,
four people out to find two scouts. Half of those
people came back and we're talking about some sort of
wild creature. Let's send an army out there and we
will find these creatures put them down. And they do that,
and so it's like everything calms down.
Speaker 1: So how come Yu Gahl isn't leading this army? Did
the captain say no, not you?
Speaker 2: I mean, I think I think the you Gaul is
probably regardless of his his past and his experiences, there's
no way that he's in a state of mind to lead.
I'm like, he probably is coming back and like foaming
at the mouth and like, you.
Speaker 1: Know how I'm gonna go back there. And I'm gonna
burn that.
Speaker 2: Forest down and all this stuff, and Reagan's like, you,
you know, I need your badge and your gun.
Speaker 1: On the yeah, you know, it's yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So it's very much a like no, you you're grounded,
You're you're grounded, yeah boy, yeah, whereas Fenderlus is quite
happy to be not sent back out. And so what
if then we jump to a month later and there's
either like a killing or something like that within the
city walls of nol or something happens and maybe the
guard on duty who's investigating finds some sort of like
ooze or you know, see somebody with some sort of
like nodule on their necks.
Speaker 1: So something like it's it's in the city now, Yeah,
it's in the city. We've got these two new characters,
and we don't know how to add them to our party.
Why don't we just start George R. Martin style. We're
just going to switch to these two new characters. We're
gonna leave you gall and Fiddle us to argue as
they just bicker all day now, and we leave them
in the barracks. But now we go off to some
place a tavern or whatever.
Speaker 2: Are all these characters part of the like Nalacar City watch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's how we know each other, right. Yeah, so
we're at our favorite dive bar and you know, they're
exchanging their their dad joke of the day or whatever.
H and maybe somebody's got to go take a leak. Yeah,
and so I'll go with you. And they go into
the alley and they discover a body.
Speaker 2: Oh so they stumble out from the wanton wife and
I like it.
Speaker 1: Good little little drunk.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just just a little bit though. And they stumble
down the alleyway in between the tavern and the next building,
and they're preparing to take a leak when they see
this body.
Speaker 1: Right, and then they joke that, you know, looks like
somebody had too much yeah to drink. And maybe Adris
goes up and gives this fellow or woman a kick
in the ribs, but of course they don't move it all. Nope,
and then kind of maybe lean down over it and
just hit by a smell. I think Adrius. The first
thing he does is he's going to rifle through the pockets.
I mean, does he find anything. Let's use the oracle.
Speaker 2: Okay, so do we think that this person has anything
in their pockets.
Speaker 1: I think it's likely because nobody's moved this body yet,
so I mean if they don't, probably somebody already fleesed it. Yeah.
The real question is if is there anything of value?
But let's find it. Is there anything at all? Is
there anything at all?
Speaker 2: Let's say likely, so that'd be seventy five or less
fifty five is a yes? Okay, and could be could
be an exceptional result if we want, since it's a
matching result.
Speaker 1: Oh, I see, is that how that works? If you
get doubles? It's exceptional? Yeah, it's an interesting twist. Or
let's lead into that. Yeah, because we need some plot points.
Do we make it exceptional by consulting the action, subject.
Speaker 2: Action and subject. Let's see what let's do the optional
thing we might get here? So our action is thirty
two breach?
Speaker 1: Interesting? Could they roll one? If you like? Go ahead,
you bet? I like this is the best part.
Speaker 2: Thirty seven thirty seven vow breach vow breach of a vow,
in breach of a vow?
Speaker 1: Is this a guard? Could be a guard? And what
kind of vow would they make that when they got
sick they would leave town? But they didn't have the
guts to do it.
Speaker 2: Maybe we also have I don't want to lose necessarily
this thread with Vaidar, we introduced Ugmar.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's let's absolutely stay with that.
Speaker 2: So could this be a cleric of Ugmar or.
Speaker 1: This could be a cleric of Ugmar and what is
the vow the vow? Oh, let's let's say what if
what if they work with you know, like kind of
like working with lepers, that idea like that they would
be the ones to move among the sick. Maybe one
of the soldiers came back with the disease and they
being sort of on the lamb, like they disappeared, and
this cleric has been caring for them, bringing them food,
bringing them the water on the.
Speaker 2: Sly instead of turning them in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as a charity. Yeah, that's their version of charity. Yep.
And that is maybe a breach of their vow because
by the law they would have to turn this person in.
And of course that this cleric got infected and died.
Maybe you don't automatically turn into a monster. Maybe you
die or turn into a monster. Yeah, maybe it's yeah,
like fifty to fifty chance you turn into a thrall
or you just die. Is this a male or a female?
Can I just roll this fifty fifth? Do you? Right now? Yeah?
Go for it? Okay? High low high is mail? It
is mail? Okay, we have a male cleric of Ougmar.
Speaker 2: Okay, how do we know because this is you know,
Adris is rifling through.
Speaker 1: Right, Maybe we find a holy symbol? Right? But how
do we wouldn't find money?
Speaker 2: How do we know that this person is you know,
has been caring for this person that's on the lamb?
Do we find a key, like a key to a
like a room somewhere, maybe an inn or something like
that that is you know, like the iconography on the
key is recognizable. Okay, okay, and maybe is like, oh,
I'm yeah, there's there's and there's probably more valuables. You know,
where there are keys, there are locks.
Speaker 1: Right, that's pretty good. Is there anything else that would
make us want to go and investigate? If there is
some money, even just like a couple of gold pieces, yeah,
that might make Adris think. You know, if this guy
has two gold pieces in his pocket, I bet he's
got twenty back home. Yeah, that might be enough. Maybe
we don't even have to say that this person is
obviously a cleric. There doesn't necessarily have to be a
holy symbol. This could be enough to lead to the
next plot point, which would be the investigation of the inn. Yeah,
and we don't even have to say that Adris or
Dulpher notice the infection. It could be one of those
things where the camera lingers on the corpse. Yeah, and
kind of slowly zooms in to that, you know, tenderly
mass right under the ear that they missed. Does that
work for you? Works for me?
Speaker 2: Let's slip into the narrative and see what happens next.
Has the time yet, Dolpher asked, folding his arms over
his chest. I'm starting to sober up, nor did, Adris replied,
eyeing the door of the copper Hound.
Speaker 1: The matron of the injury be living any moment. We
don't want anyone seeing us coming or going. Remember, Daufo,
we're doing something mildly wicked. It's better not to be seen.
Speaker 3: We're not really doing anything wrong, Dolpher said, We're investigating.
Speaker 2: Adris grinned, right, Look there she goes. He pointed to
a woman exiting the copper Hound. Wrapped in a heavy shawl,
she lifted a lantern. Looked either direction, then made her
way across the street to the small hovel.
Speaker 1: Where she lived. Now we can go.
Speaker 2: They crossed the street, only stumbling a few times in
the murky darkness, before making it to the door. The
wood creaked as Adris opened the door, but there was
no one left inside the small common room. The last
few embers burned in a fireplace on the far side
of the room, casting flicker shadows on the walls. Let's
be quick about this, Dolpher said.
Speaker 1: Don't tell me afraid of a dog.
Speaker 2: Adris replied, it's not the dark I'm afraid of, muttered Dolpher.
The stairs led to a landing and a hallway that
stretched the length of the building. The half moon cast
a little light in the hallway, but for the most
part it was dark. Adris felt for the key they'd
pulled off the dead man, reminding himself of the notches
cut into it, three in total. He walked down the
hallway and felt along the lintel of the door. The
first had a single notch, the next three notches. Stopping
he felt around for a keyhole, then, crouching down, he
peered through it. There was a candle burning inside, but
other than that, he couldn't make out much of the room.
This is it, he whispered, not sure if anyone.
Speaker 1: Is inside it, so let's be cautious. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Dulpher nodded, then remembered Adris probably couldn't see the gesture.
Speaker 1: So he said, right, I'm behind you.
Speaker 2: Adris fit the key in the lock and turned it
until he was met with a soft click. Turning the handle,
he pushed the door open ever so gently. The smell
hit them first, and both men gagged. Fresh death and
stale bedclothes filled their nostrils. Adris fished a cloth out
of his pocket and he pressed it to his nose.
Are you sure about this, Dolpher asked, but Adris had
already entered the room. Sure, there was the stench of death,
but that smell meant there might be something of value
to perloin. Dulpher gritted his teeth and followed the other
man into the room. The copper Hound was not known
for its fine accommodations, and this place lived up to
those expectations. There was little more than a bed, a
small desk, and a chamber pot, and the source of
the smell became immediately obvious. A man dressed in a
soiled guard's uniform lay on the bed, face bloated and
twisted in pain. His head was turned toward them, and
his eyes remained half open. Two things were clasped in
his hand, a letter and a holy symbol of Ukmar
got Adris wore.
Speaker 1: Poor fellow's dead. I think.
Speaker 2: Dulpher held back a wretch and approach. Do you recognize him,
Adris said, I.
Speaker 1: Want to say, was that bloating? It looks kind of
like that fellow who runs the patrols in west Market.
What was his name?
Speaker 2: He thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers.
Speaker 1: Lusa.
Speaker 2: Dulpher reached out and touched the man's skin. Adrius, he's
still wrong.
Speaker 1: Poor buck had just died. What was wrong with him?
Some sort of disease.
Speaker 2: Dulpher flinched and recoiled as he withdrew his hand, and
the head lolled to the other direction. Oh, God's his ear.
Where his right ear had been, there was now jaggedly
cut flesh and a strange mark on the skin behind it.
It almost looked as though something had been peeled away
from that portion of flesh after the ear was cut free.
There's a little blow leaking from it. But it was
mostly congealed. At this point, Adris looked around the room
wide eyed.
Speaker 1: Someone's cut his zero off, probably after he died. Who
would do that, Dolpher asked, I don't know, but it's
bad news. Adris reached down and grabbed the holy symbol
and letter. Let's get out of here before whoever it
was comes back for the other ear. Shouldn't we look
around some more? What else do you think we're going
to find. There's nothing worth taking. Let's go.
Speaker 2: Dolpher was about to argue when the body twitched and
a horrid groan escaped. Dolpher leaped straight in the air
and ran for the door. Adris beat him there, and
together they clambered into the hallway and down the stairs, utterly,
careless of being seen. Neither man stopped running until the
copper hound was far behind them.
Speaker 1: So these guys they buggered out. They bugged out. It's
probably the next day, yeah, because they're not running to
the captain in the middle of the night.
Speaker 2: Do you think that they might run back to the
barracks and run into either you Gall or Findoleth.
Speaker 1: That would be good because then then they have that
conversation like you guys, look like you've seen a ghost? Yes, yes, yes?
So what are fiendalth or you gall doing up? You
all can't sleep? Yeah, one hundred percent. He can't sleep.
He's an insomniac now, so he volunteers to do door
duty or is he just out? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think maybe he's taken to like when he can't sleep,
he'll get up and like go into the common room
of the barracks and stoke the fire and then maybe
even just like sit by the fire and light his
pipe and stare off into the burning embers for hours.
I feel like he has like he maybe had a
beard before, and like it has it has continued to grow,
has gotten a little like gnarled and matted, as he's
just kind of forgotten how to take care of himself.
And he just kind of like is chewing on his
pipe and like puffing on it and then just like
muttering into the like fire like Casier.
Speaker 1: That's good. Hits like he's aged five years, right, It's
like in a day he aged five years. This is good?
How to Adris and Dulfer get in? Is it seven
to eleven? I mean, is it open all night? Yeah?
I think so. I feel like there's a night watch
and everything, right. So yeah, so they they come into
the common room and they're still breathing hard because they
essentially ran the whole way, and well, they can't read
the letter without light, so maybe that's what their plan is,
is to go and you know, they rush to the
fire and slam down that letter and they start reading
it aloud. And then they look up and whoa, there's
somebody here. They didn't even notice yough because he looks
like part of the furniture. Well, what are you reading, bearer? Friends, Yeah,
that's cool, And so now it comes down to us
figuring out what does the letter say.
Speaker 2: Dulpher pulls out the letter and opens it and begins
to read.
Speaker 3: The sickness is growing worse by the day, and with
it the voices whispers whispers in my ears. Brother Donnas
says it's just the fever, but they seem to abate
when the symbol of Ugmar is near. I can see
the concern on Brother Donnis's face, and he's been leaving
the symbol with me whenever he goes out. It helps,
though I can't block them out entirely. When I sleep,
I see a tower and a voice louder than the others,
calls me to it. It reminds me of the watch
towers along the walls, But I don't know why someone
will be drawing me towards those. I fear that if
I could walk, I would have already heeded the call
and made my way up into town.
Speaker 1: I was a fool.
Speaker 3: I should have turned myself over to the commander when
the whispers started. Brother Dannis assures me that Ugmar will
preserve me, but I feel my mind and body betraying
me with every hour that passes. I fear death is
not far off, and I pray that Ugmar will have
mercy on my soul.
Speaker 1: Dulpher squints at it.
Speaker 3: There's more, but it devolves into gibberish. And there's a
sketching of the tower, but which one is it?
Speaker 1: This is good. This is good because you Gaul would
say something to the effect of like, well, I don't
know anything about the history of this town enough to
tell you what building that is, or or you know
what's special about it or whatever. But I know somebody
who knows a lot of history. I just haven't talked
to him in a month. We don't get along anymore. Yeah, right,
this works, and that's how we bring the party together.
And so then the final kind of scene would be
you Gall, I guess, going back to his room, maybe
even knowing that he's not going to sleep. And is
this where we make your constitution check? I think so.
Speaker 2: I think it's Cohn or under con or under got it.
Speaker 1: Here we go.
Speaker 2: Hugall rose from his seat by the fire and said,
you lads, get some rest. Tomorrow, will go talk to
Findlea and we'll see if he has any insights into
what this letter says. Dulpher and Adris nodded, and you
Gall could see the first glimmers of the same terror
that kept him awake most nights. He wasn't sure exactly
what they'd seen, but he was certain it wasn't good
for Nalakar. Returning to his room, he sat on the
edge of the bed and stared at its dark wall.
Speaker 1: Across from him.
Speaker 2: Even with his eyes open, he could see Bydar falling
before that creature Kathar, gurgling and bleeding out. He could
hear the sounds of that creature devouring as friends. According
to Commander Ragan, the beast that killed his companions was dead.
There was something in the way the two guardsmen described
to the corpse they found that made him tremble. Reaching
under his bed, he pulled out a bottle and unstoppered it,
tilting his head back. As the contents burned down his throat.
He gasped and coughed a little before going back for
another dose. His breath was heavy and ragged as he
finished his third. Already the burning warmth filled his chest,
and he could feel sleep at the edge of his eyes.
He placed his head in his hands as the heat
spread through his chest and up his neck. As the
effects started taking he reached up and scratched the skin
behind his right ear.
Speaker 1: This concludes the first half of the Nalakar Knights collaborative miniseries.
Parts three to four will be released shortly on the
Errant Adventures podcast feed. We hope you'll join us there.